Welcome to the Respect Existence & Expect Resistance (RE&ER) Family! Thank you for taking 5 minutes out of your day to learn about the injustices that are happening in our nation.
Contents
News from the Hill
This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land?
A House Divided Amongst K-12 Students
Exercise the Right to Vote by Mail
What’s Happening in Portland?
Bring Grace Home
Justice in the News
News from the Hill
Ongoing Court Cases
This Land is Your Land, This Land is My land?
In our last edition, we briefly mentioned the landmark McGirt v. Oklahoma Supreme Court Case in the Justice in the News section but decided it merited a whole section to itself. This case is a huge step forward for Indigenous peoples in America and in the fight for native justice and equality.
What you should know about Oklahoma History:
The Indian Removal Act, signed in 1830, forced more than 60 tribes to be relocated to “Indian Territory,” which includes modern-day Oklahoma
By the early 20th century, Indian Territory was abolished and reservations were disestablished so that Oklahoma could gain statehood
Today, 39 tribes reside in Oklahoma, with the largest state American Indian population of 424,731, or 14.61% of Oklahomans.
What you should know about this case:
Jimcy McGirt was convicted of three sexual offenses by the Oklahoma state court
These crimes were committed on Creek Nation land, which was considered an Indian reservation
A previous case, Sharp v. Murphy, upheld that the reservations were never disestablished and still remain Native American country
The decision was 5-4, with Justice Gorsuch joining the more liberal justices yet again
What the Supreme Court ruling means:
Federal and tribal courts gain jurisdiction over criminal and civil offenses committed by tribal citizens within the Creek reservation
Tribes have more autonomy over their own land, including the majority of Tulsa
Major crimes committed on reservations will be prosecuted in federal court
Non-major crimes committed on reservations will be handled in tribal courts
All of us are currently living on land that was violently stolen from Native Americans centuries ago—learn more about the land you are living on and its history here.
Education
A House Divided Amongst K-12 Students
Next month marks the beginning of the 2020-2021 academic year for many schools across the country, as COVID-19 cases continue to surge, the majority of American families are preparing to homeschool their children. One aspect of homeschooling that is gaining traction is homeschool pods aka “pandemic pods.”
Here’s what you need to know:
Approximately 30-60% of parents are opting to homeschool their children for the upcoming academic year
As the Trump administration continues to pressure schools to reopen, many parents believe schools are not well-prepared for effective social distance learning
As a result, parents are organizing “pandemic pods” via Facebook and amongst themselves to facilitate learning for their children
They are similar to homeschooling in which students are able to learn in small groups led by either their parents or a hired teacher
The purpose of the pods is that they provide a safer option for children to develop social skills and effectively learn during the pandemic
Why are these pods receiving criticism?
Experts argue that they are exclusionary as they widen class inequality between students who are able to engage in them versus students who do not have the resources to participate in them
They largely benefit privileged families who are mostly white, that have the means to organize and afford a homeschool pod
For example, some of the best homeschool institutions that are organizing pods are setting their tuition to $2500 per month for elementary students alone
Additionally, this will reduce funding from public school districts due to a decrease in student attendance and disproportionately affect low-income students of color who must still attend
San Francisco Mayor London Breed has noted the recent trend of learning pods and announced that the city on September 14th will begin having community “learning hubs” to mitigate their self-segregation effects. The hubs will prioritize low-income students and those still learning English. If this strategy bodes well, educators hope that once the pandemic is over, this will drive a paradigm shift in education to benefit vulnerable students in public schools.
2020 Elections
Exercise the Right to Vote By Mail
Could Mail-in Voting create fraud? Donald J. Trump recently said that Mail-in Voting will lead to the most corruption in American history. Is there validity to the President’s remarks?
How mail-in voting can be fraud-free:
Registration: The ballot and registration vetting is the most important step to ensure people who are receiving ballots are legally qualified to vote.
Mailings: Each person can only submit one ballot and repeated submissions would cause the vote to become invalid.
Fraudulent signatures: Workers at election sites are trained to examine signatures and check the signature that matches the one on file for the voter before the ballot alone can be counted. If a voter submits a problematic signature, they will be contacted by the election office and asked to verify their identity.
Cameras: Some states use volunteers in polling locations to issue ballots. For example, Washington state uses theirs to distribute ballots, collect, analyze, and count them in a central location.
While Donald Trump's comments on mail-in voting are not factual, it is still important to know your options with regards to voting. Due to the uncertainty of voting during this pandemic, the mail-in voting option will be most US citizens' primary means of voting in this 2020 election.
Current statistics regarding mail-in voting:
At least 77% of Americans are eligible to vote by mail in the upcoming election
For voters in eight states (NY, TX, CT, IN, KY, LA, MS, SC), in-person voting remains the only option available (unless there is a “valid” reason beyond COVID-19 fear)
16 states that previously didn’t allow voting by mail now have the option open
We have less than 100 days until the November 2020 Presidential Election! Get ready to vote.
Resistance
What’s happening in Portland?
Confrontations between protestors and federal agents in Portland, Oregon have become the center of mass resistance since the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis on May 25. Seeking to focus his re-election campaign on law and order, Trump has sent officers to Portland from agencies under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to “reinforce” and in some cases replace the local police in the name of protecting federal property.
Here’s what you need to know about this current situation:
Federal agents are operating without identification and in camouflage gear
Portland’s city mayor along with a dozen mayors have written a letter to Trump disturbed at the actions of the federal agents, calling their failure to wear proper identification and the snatching of protesters “chilling” and asking for their removal
Portland protests are still growing despite this violent crackdown from federal agents and the police. Here are a few highlights of the recent happenings:
This past weekend: A group of mothers joined and formed what they called a “wall of moms'' outside the federal courthouse to shield protestors.
July 17: The ACLU of Oregon filed a lawsuit against the DHS, US Marshalls Service, and the city of Portland for attacking volunteer medics.
July 23: A federal court issued a restraining order on the federal agents from attacking or arresting journalists and legal observers at Portland protests.
Call-to-Action
Bring Grace Home
In May, Grace, a 15-year-old student in Beverly Hills, Michigan (a suburb of Detroit), was incarcerated for not completing her online coursework, the judge claiming that this was a violation of her probation. Just last week, Judge Mary Ellen Brennan declined a motion for early release that Grace’s lawyers had filed, with the accompanying comments of “I think you are exactly where you are supposed to be” and “You are blooming there, but there is more work to be done.”
30 seconds: Sign this petition
1 minute: Sign these petitions asking for police-free schools
2 minutes: Call Judge Brennan and demand that Grace be released
5-10 minutes: Learn more about the school-to-prison pipeline within low-income communities
$ for a good cause: Donate* to the Advancement Project (*donations are tax-deductible)
Written by: Namrata Subramanian, Daniele’ Evans, Daisy Flores, & Jacob Neel
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